Northern Fascination Read Online Free PDF Page A

scent alone had him salivating. The cookies had helped but he was still hungry. For good measure, his stomach growled in agreement.
    “No worries,” Merrilee said with a bright smile. “I’ll show you to your room and then they’ll fix you right up next door.”
    She headed toward a stairway on the other side of the office. Logan followed her up to the second floor.
    “I understand one of my former schoolmates lives here. Jenna Rathburne,” Logan said as they climbed the stairs.
    Merrilee stopped and turned to face him on the stairs, surprise on her face. “You know Jenna? She didn’t tell us you’d be coming.”
    “I haven’t contacted her. I thought I’d look her up when I got here.”
    “Oh! A surprise! I’m sure she’ll be tickled pink.”
    Logan wasn’t so sure at all. In fact, he felt a fairly alien moment of uncertainty as to exactly how Jenna would respond when she saw him. “We went to the same high school.” He knew he sounded guarded.
    “We all just love that girl to pieces. She’s one of those rare women who’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She’s got a heart of gold.”
    Logan was saved from responding, which was good because he didn’t know what to say anyway, when Merrilee opened a door at the top of stairs. “Here you are.” He stepped behind her into a room that was charming and inviting, but damn cold.
    “We’re having a little problem with the heating upstairs,” Mrs. Swenson said.
    “I’ll be fine.” As soon as his luggage containing his thermal underwear and thick socks arrived.
    Aside from the cold, he immediately liked the room. As with the downstairs, it had log walls and lace-trimmed flannel curtains. An iron headboard and footboard were painted a light cream color. A homey quilt covered the mattress while a washstand, complete with antique pitcher and bowl, stood in one corner. A crocheted doily, much like those found in his grandmother’s house, topped the nightstand. Light from a bedside lamp pooled across a rag rug and the pegged wooden floor. The welcoming scent of cinnamon and apples hung faint in the room.
    “The bathroom is down the hall at the other end of the landing. Just holler if you need anything.”
    Food first and then directions to Jenna. See, he wasn’t desperate to see her at all. He’d eat first.
    He was, after all, fully in control.
     
     
    “H E’S CLEANING UP NOW AND then he’s heading over to Gus’s,” Merrilee said.
    Jenna’s heart was racing in her chest. “Logan Jeffries?” Her voice came out all squeaky.
    “Uh-huh,” Merrilee said. “How many Logan’s do you know from high school, sweetie?” Merrilee’s question held a teasing note.
    “Only one.” And he was here. Logan Jeffries was right down the street, here in Good Riddance, Alaska. Dear God.
    “What’s he doing here?”
    “Well, I have no idea. The only thing he brought up was you.”
    For one heart-stopping moment, a crazy thought passed through her mind…?. No. Uh-uh. That was ridiculous. Over the top. Wildly romantic.
    Jenna really didn’t know what Logan did for a living, so she had no clue what else could’ve brought him here. But it couldn’t be her…could it?
    Merrilee continued. “He was going to surprise you. I hate to spoil that but I thought you might want a heads up. Most women do when a good-looking man is going to drop in on them.”
    Surprised didn’t begin to describe it. Honestly, Jenna felt kind of weak at the knees. Then again, Logan had always affected her that way. “He still looks good?”
    “Well, sugar, I have no idea what he looked like back in the day, but he looks mighty fine now. Tall, broad-shouldered, dark hair, pretty brown eyes and, never tell Bull I said it but, a mouth a woman could only think of as kissable. A little reserved and formal, but nice nonetheless.”
    Butterflies seemed to take flight in Jenna’s stomach releasing a sweet heat she hadn’t felt in a long time. Logan had always had a